MTG Salvation

Introduction -- Who Is This Crazy Guy?
I first started playing with any sort of regularity in Onslaught block. I would play after school with some friends, and one day I bought the Elvish Fury theme deck, which contained nothing but Elves and lands (and a lone Snarling Undorak, but that was an error.). I promptly proceeded to dominate the table, until the entire metagame of our casual little pocket shifted to either be Elves or "Kills Elves".

Fast-forward ten or so years, and I had decided to finally make a Tribal Elf Commander deck, because combining two things I love sounded like an awesome idea. Ezuri, Renegade Leader is a fine choice for Tribal Elf Commanders, but I wanted the depth of another color, so I started looking around. Did you know there are Legendary Elves in all five colors? Anyway, one of my fondest memories from way back when was making bonkers amounts of tokens with Wirewood Hivemaster, so eventually it narrowed down to Rhys the Redeemed and Nath of the Gilt-Leaf. I like that Nath provides a subtheme for the deck, and also that he doesn't actually require mana to create value. As a plus, black is very good at the things that green is terrible at, and vice versa.

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You Might Be A Nath Player If...
Play Nath if...

• you like elves.
• you like synergy.
• you like attacking for 300+ damage at once.
• you like making insane amounts of mana and/or tokens.
• you like overextending.
• you like grinding out advantage over a long game.

Do not play Nath if...

• you like counterspells.
• you hate being board swept.
• you like Goblins.
• you like having an answer to everything, all the time.
• you don't like playing a game of attrition against a table of people who think Elves are best served crispy with ketchup.

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The Deck
Current as of 07/18/2013

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Card Choices & Analysis

Commander(s)
There are five Legendary Elf creatures. Each of them are viable Commanders; while this deck is specifically built around Nath, each of the other cards could be made the Commander with some tweaks.

Glissa the Traitor -- Obviously combos well with utility artifacts like Executioner's Capsule, Mishra's Babuble, Expedition Map, etc. She also makes a potent Voltron Commander, and even without any equipment will destroy almost anything she tussles with. She lacks synergy with a lot of my deck, but the few artifacts I do run are pretty valuable, and as previously stated she is a beast in combat, so I run her; probably not an optimal choice, though.

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord -- You can very easily wipe out the entire table by tapping a bunch of mana Elves and then sacrificing them while there are lords on the battlefield. Helps to mitigate board wipes, which is very useful. Not currently in my build, but a strong contender.

Savra, Queen of the Golgari -- Great for getting a Grave Pact-like lock going. Can easily be built into the deck with a support package, or used as an alternate, disruptive Commander.

Nath of the Gilt-Leaf -- Substantially-sized body, but does take a turn before being able to impact the board in any meaningful way. Forces random discards and makes Elf tokens, which are both helpful. Additionally, his effect isn't immediately threatening, just annoying, so he'll tend to sit on the table and provide value for awhile.

Rhys the Exiled -- A more aggressive option than the others, this one encourages you to attack a lot. Probably a better fit for a budget build; definitely still a great card as part of the 99.

Elves
There are 234 green and/or black elves. This might take awhile.

Ambush Commander -- Useful for a surprise alpha strike, but also very risky if someone pulls out a Rout or something of that nature.

Arbor Elf -- Standard mana dork with a twist. Not only can this untap your Overgrown Tomb, it can also untap a Forest that you have enchanted with Elvish Guidance.

Argothian Elder -- Similar to Arbor Elf, in that it can untap some very useful utility and/or mana lands. It does cost four to cast, though, so I personally consider it too clunky.

Bloodline Shaman -- Works well with Sensei's Divining Top, Crystal Ball, Sylvan Library, etc. Still not that great in my opinion, but a decent option if you want to be cute.

Boreal Druid -- It makes snow mana. Useful if you...like snow mana? I felt obligated to include it because it's conceivably playable, it just doesn't really do anything that an Elvish Mystic couldn't.

Caller of the Claw -- Very potent. Not only can it help you comeback after an opponent's board wipes, it can also be cast after your own boardwipes to leave you with a massive army of bears.

Copperhorn Scout -- Works nicely with several tap abilities, especially Imperial Magistrate and mana elves when attacking with Ezuri, Renegade Leader on the field. You could theoretically do some cool stuff with Strionic Resonator, too.

Deathrite Shaman -- Sort of useful. It's not consistent as far as mana production, but he exiles problem cards from graveyards and minimally impacts the board.

Defiant Elf -- Actually budget playable; that trample comes in handy. That said, there are besster options for built-in trample.

Drove of Elves -- Similar to Defiant Elf in that it's playable, but there are better options.

Eladamri, Lord of Leaves -- Gives all other Elves shroud and forestwalk. Note that the shroud can prevent you from regenerating your creatures or using certain abilities, but is so very useful that if used strategically can make your army basically unkillable.

Elvish Archdruid -- Makes mana, pumps elves. Play this.

Elvish Champion -- Pumps elves and gives them forestwalk. It's okay, but not a necessary inclusion.

Elvish Harbinger -- A tutor, an elf, and a mana dork, all in one card. Automatic include.

Elvish Hunter -- Not a great option, but it can be used to lock something down if it's especially scary.

Elvish Mystic -- Basic mana dork. Totally worth playing, because it ramps early on and can be used to cheaply raise your "elf count" later on.

Elvish Promenade -- Doubles your elves. Very good, and definitely something you should at least consider.

Elvish Ranger -- Comes in two flavors of awesome art from Terese Nielsen and DiTerlizzi. Otherwise not worth mentioning.

Elvish Soultiller -- Recycles your elves back into your library when it dies. Also a substantial body.

Elvish Vanguard -- Too slow for my taste and lacks evasion, but certainly not a bad card.

Essence Warden -- Recently added this to my list, and it really does good work when dropped early.

Ezuri, Renegade Leader -- One of your prime win-cons. You can Overrun as many times as you have mana for, which can easily be three to five times a turn.

Fauna Shaman -- Lets you turn mana dorks into win-cons late in the game. Slow and draws a lot of well-deserved hate, though.

Fyndhorn Elves -- Elvish Mystic #2.

Gaea's Herald -- Useful if your meta has a lot of counters, but not something I play.

Glissa Sunseeker -- It's repeatable artifact destruction. However, it's often kind of hard to control the amount of mana in your pool. Worth considering; I'll be testing her out shortly.

Golgari Guildmage -- Puts those tokens to good use by bringing back more immediately-useful elves.

Gyre Sage -- I haven't tested this yet, and I don't like how it has to come out early for it to actually get to a decent size, but I suppose it's playable.

Heedless One -- A better trampler than Defiant Elf.

Immaculate Magistrate -- A useful combat trick, it also does ridiculous things with Joraga Warcaller.

Imperious Perfect -- Pumps elves, makes babies. Yes, please.

Jagged-Scar Archers -- The flying hate can be really useful, but I've only really used that ability a handful of times.

Joraga Treespeaker -- He turns all your elves into Siamese Twin Llanowar Elves!

Joraga Warcaller -- Best paired with Immaculate Magistrate, but you can totally hardcast it. Super potent either way.

Llanowar Elves -- Elvish Mystic #3. Elvish Mystic is first alphabetically, hence why this is a copy of it and not the other way around.

Llanowar Mentor -- Turns all the cards into Llanowar Elves. Still not that great, but worth playing in a budget build.

Lys Alana Huntmaster -- Two elves for the price of one! Needs to come down early to really be valuable, but still OK late.

Lys Alana Scarblade -- If you're running a lot of recursion, this can be a brutal way to keep the board under control.

Maralen of the Mornsong -- Oh, God. Please do not play this. Someone will kill her or you before you even get a chance to use her ability.

Masked Admirers -- An awesome card in a sacrifice engine, but lackluster otherwise.

Nullmage Shepherd -- A wonderful, repeatable way to remove artifacts and enchantments at instant speed.

Oak Street Innkeeper -- A good budget alternative to Eladamri, Lord of Leaves; otherwise, pass.

Oracle of Mul Daya -- It's not Future Sight, but it's still pretty sweet card advantage.

Priest of Titania -- Cheaper than Elvish Archdruid, and nets you mana on other players' elves, too. This card is ridiculous and a must-have.

Prowess of the Fair -- A great card in a similar vein to Caller of the Claw, but it makes elves which is better.

Quirion Ranger -- This can be used for some awesome mana generation or other tap ability shenanigans, but I personally think it looks like child porn so I don't play with it.

Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary -- Fondly referred to as "ROFLcopter", Rofellos is very, very, very good. He doesn't rely on having other creatures to make mana, and while he probably won't be making 20 mana a turn, he still makes plenty.

Seeker of Skybreak -- Currently debating testing this. Works in some abusive infinite combos, but can be used legitimately in a manner similar to Quirion Ranger.

Sylvan Messenger -- A decent source of card advantage; also has built-in trample, which is surprisingly relevant even on a 2/2.

Tajuru Preserver -- **** Sigarda. This prevents Grave Pact locks and has saved my butt so many times it's insane.

Taunting Elf -- LOL alpha strike!

Timberwatch Elf -- A great budget card, but otherwise pales next to Immaculate Magistrate.

Tribal Forcemage -- Not as good as Ezuri, but still worthy of consideration. Besides, Morph is cool.

Viridian Shaman -- Rarely will you lack for a target.

Viridian Zealot -- Recurrable pinpoint destruction. Also sits on the board as a rattlesnake.

Voice of the Woods -- 7/7 trampling Elementals can't be bad. I don't play it, but there are definitely cases where you might want to.

Wellwisher -- Gain all the life! Doesn't protect from Commander damage, poison, mill, etc., but it's still a nice buffer to have.

Wirewood Channeler -- Costs more than Priest of Titania or Elvish Archdruid, but it makes mana of any color. A definite include.

Wirewood Herald -- Usually people refuse to block him because tutors are evil, but there's nothing stopping you from sacrificing him...

Wirewood Hivemaster -- The card that got me to love elves in the first place. I recently made the painful decision to cut him, because he doesn't make elves and is a little too slow for my taste.

Wood Elves -- Searches for dual lands. Puts it into play. A great card that costs next to nothing.

Yeva, Nature's Herald -- Makes almost all of your creatures castable at instant speed, and that is huge.

Hi Rob. Liliana of the Veil could be interesting. With Nath in play, she makes tokens while hurting your opponents. There's also an enchantment, Mind Slash, that seems powerful, if you're looking to go more the discard route. I'd give you more advice, but I don't want to lose to that more than I have to.

Edit: I know you have Woodland Cemetery.

Mind Slash is awesome. I need one now.

I wish I had a Liliana of the Sexiness.

I started playing a little earlier than you (7E, OTJ block), but had a similar experience - put together an Elf deck and was pretty dominant. Decks just couldn't keep up with that sort of speed back then. I still have my old Elf deck, and I'm thinking of trading in my 4-ofs to reuse some of the older cards and make a complete EDH deck. I do have a few questions about different cards that I was thinking of playing:

Coat of Arms - the deck seems way too tribal not to play it, doesn't it?
Brass Herald - a little expensive, but it's like a Sylvan Messenger + Elvish Champion
Urborg Elf or Quirion Elves - don't need the black ramp at all? Maybe with those, more forests, less swamps, which would be better for....
Blanchwood Armor - I know creature-based enchants can be 2-fers in EDH more than other formats, it seems, but can you really avoid this one?
Lys Alana Scarblade - Seems like good, repeatable removal (that does a number on even the indestructibles people like)

This deck might be able to use Perilous Forays ramp with your tokens or elves when someone wraths.

Perilous Forays, Brass Herald, and Lys Alana Scarblade are great suggestions, thank you!

As for Coat of Arms, it tends to just make people mad because of the math nightmare. I'd rather just have a one-sided effect anyway.

Updated the deck list, cleaned up the into sections, and started adding my card analysis. I'm working to turn this into a primer.